Rumor from Russian hockey writer: Kovy considering staying in KHL

Can't say I disagree. I'm tired of guys that don't want to be here. Next time I do get a jersey (I have Brodeur/Elias/Dano/Rafalski/Parise and the latter is going in the closet for a looong time) - and that's going to be sometime down the road, all things considered - at this point it'll be a guy like Greene or Salvador, you know guys that actually WANT to be a Devil

Right now I'm wary of anyone that's a FA this year lol. I bought my friend a Parise shirt years ago, she's probably not going to wear it again at this point so I was gonna get her Clarkson as a replacement since he's one of her 'current' favorites but I'm loathe to buy that one for her until he re-ups

Elias is the one I'm most confident in coming back, but he's got that toolbag Allan Walsh repping him. I don't have much fear in Zubrus leaving, but he's older so you never know if some team offers him a crazy multi-year deal if he doesn't take it.

Edited by NJDevs4978, 08 January 2013 - 10:26 PM.

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"The Devils have high standards, that's the difference. We have a standard to live up to every year, and a couple of teams in our area don't have the standards we do." - Pat Burns

The New Jersey Devils win Stanley Cups everywhere:-NHL record for most road wins in the playoffs - 10-1 in '95 and 10-2 in '00-NHL record for most home wins in the playoffs - 12-1 in '03

Like I said earlier, he'll be back in NJ so this whole debate is really for nothing. I'm just saying I can understand if he is pissed with the way the NHL handles business and disrespects players like him. I know I would be if I was in his shoes.

Disrespects who? He got his $90M contract he shouldn't have. Bidding against no one. After the first one got shot down, he had virtually no give and rammed a similar contract through, with the same "I'll go to SKA" BS in the background.

This is gonna be a real tough contrarian viewpoint to take up if it materializes.

Disrespects who? He got his $90M contract he shouldn't have. Bidding against no one. After the first one got shot down, he had virtually no give and rammed a similar contract through, with the same "I'll go to SKA" BS in the background.

This is gonna be a real tough contrarian viewpoint to take up if it materializes.

Sports CBAs with salary caps redistribute money from the best players to minimum salary players, generally. That said, I'm not going to shed any tears for Kovalchuk's finances, nor do I think he's losing that much from this agreement. But I don't think this is about money because I don't see what SKA is offering now that they didn't two years ago.

Sports CBAs with salary caps redistribute money from the best players to minimum salary players, generally. That said, I'm not going to shed any tears for Kovalchuk's finances, nor do I think he's losing that much from this agreement. But I don't think this is about money because I don't see what SKA is offering now that they didn't two years ago.

They're nuts, they could do it, if they want to prove a point. Medvedev's team has the assets (non-hockey related) to probably kill that contract money wise, especially considering taxes. Other KHL teams, not so much, thus there's a difference where you play, if you play in East Jabib, the second this was announced, you probably ran out the door and made sure to arrange your own travel. You play in St. Petersburg or Moscow, maybe not so much....

My guess, if there's a game here, he wants his $11M and is willing to play chicken (tolling vs. nuking) to get it. He did whine about wanting to be paid all of his money (one of the few Devils to talk during the lockout)... obviously this cannot be the case if he plays this season. I'm sure he knows the last 5 years of his deal are worthless and the big money is now, so what's sacrificing a year if the contract stays intact?

It's just a matter of whether he's playing for local consumption or if he really is a dick and is going to go through with it. He did the same thing last time around and it ended up being smoke.

But he's already getting paid no doubt what is a handsome sum to play in Russia. Maybe it's more, maybe it's less than what he's getting here. Unless you know you have a great contract waiting with SKA if you blow it and get your contract voided, it seems like an awfully dangerous game to play. I'm not buying the whole thing, especially given that he already spent 2 months in career limbo 2 years ago and could return there again. I'll buy it if he's not playing for the Devils for Game 1.

But he's already getting paid no doubt what is a handsome sum to play in Russia. Maybe it's more, maybe it's less than what he's getting here. Unless you know you have a great contract waiting with SKA if you blow it and get your contract voided, it seems like an awfully dangerous game to play. I'm not buying the whole thing, especially given that he already spent 2 months in career limbo 2 years ago and could return there again. I'll buy it if he's not playing for the Devils for Game 1.

I don't know what he's doing one way or another. Seems like he doesn't either, since he ran through every possible scenario. I just think it's a plausible scenario. Obviously, full disclosure, I am not exactly the President of the Ilya Kovalchuk fan club, so it probably colors my opinion a bit.

We'll see, this could be a whole lot of nothing and he hops on a plane Saturday morning from St. Petersburg after the vote. Or maybe not, one thing's for sure, if he doesn't show, it's gonna be interesting.

If Kovy does go ghost it will definitely ve interesting. Our first line will have completely vanished by opening day

I'm not even talking about Devils hockey on the ice. They'll either have to get someone, have Elias go on an absolute rampage at 485 years old, while the two ancient goalies hold up, or they'll be one of the crappiest offensive teams you'll ever see.

I'm talking more about international hockey intrigue, fans going *completely* nuts, whether they "fire" him or not, whether the league would even let them do that, what the other players think, etc...

OT re Zubrus: Zubrus will turn 35 after this year so I wouldn't be shocked to see him take the highest dollar amount he gets offered (assuming NJ isn't near that amount). He may want to re-sign here, and I hope he does, but I can't fault a guy for taking as much money as possible in his final contract to further set up his family for retirement.

Disrespects who? He got his $90M contract he shouldn't have. Bidding against no one. After the first one got shot down, he had virtually no give and rammed a similar contract through, with the same "I'll go to SKA" BS in the background.

This is gonna be a real tough contrarian viewpoint to take up if it materializes.

I think Bettman locking out players every time the CBA expires is disrespectful - no matter if it's a highly paid player like Kovalchuk or a grinder like Janssen. Trust me, I don't feel bad or sympathize for these overpaid millionares. I'm just saying I can understand if he has a bit of anger or resentment towards the NHL in him.

I feel the need to say this again - he'll be back. Everyone needs to stop worrying.

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RIP Pat Burns -- RIP Alexander Vasyunov and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Winner of the 2008 Sergei Brylin Award for Most Underrated Poster
Co-Winner of the 2011 Scott Bertoli Award for Best Minor League Poster, Winner of the 2012 Scott Bertoli Award

OT re Zubrus: Zubrus will turn 35 after this year so I wouldn't be shocked to see him take the highest dollar amount he gets offered (assuming NJ isn't near that amount). He may want to re-sign here, and I hope he does, but I can't fault a guy for taking as much money as possible in his final contract to further set up his family for retirement.

I think Bettman locking out players every time the CBA expires is disrespectful - no matter if it's a highly paid player like Kovalchuk or a grinder like Janssen. Trust me, I don't feel bad or sympathize for these overpaid millionares. I'm just saying I can understand if he has a bit of anger or resentment towards the NHL in him.

I feel the need to say this again - he'll be back. Everyone needs to stop worrying.

If there's no lockout, they play 3/4 of the season and then there's a strike. There's a reason there's no more strikes. Both sides were responsible and how quickly this was resolved, when it was up against the wall, proves how much of a joke it was, and Bettman and Fehr were equal partners in this.

At least the league operated under the pretense of pre-negotiations, the PA didn't even try that, they knew what would happen and pretty much accepted it. If the players didn't like losing money, they should have pushed their PA to start negotiating in earnest some time before a week or so in December and then around New Years.

Also, keep in mind, these negotiations are not done for the guys with one or two years left on their deals or for grinders or cheapo players. They're done to protect the 15-20 top guys and the future 15-20 top guys. So one of them deciding afterwards "ya know what, screw everyone!" may not be taken so well by other players. I mean, I would guess the vote on this CBA will be 80/85 up to 15/20 down Just like last time. There's a reason for that.

OT re Zubrus: Zubrus will turn 35 after this year so I wouldn't be shocked to see him take the highest dollar amount he gets offered (assuming NJ isn't near that amount). He may want to re-sign here, and I hope he does, but I can't fault a guy for taking as much money as possible in his final contract to further set up his family for retirement.

Cant believe 6 years went by that fast. Felt like yesterday he was in that #16 jersey and being the whipping boy on this forum, ahh good times.

If there's no lockout, they play 3/4 of the season and then there's a strike. There's a reason there's no more strikes. Both sides were responsible and how quickly this was resolved, when it was up against the wall, proves how much of a joke it was, and Bettman and Fehr were equal partners in this.

At least the league operated under the pretense of pre-negotiations, the PA didn't even try that, they knew what would happen and pretty much accepted it. If the players didn't like losing money, they should have pushed their PA to start negotiating in earnest some time before a week or so in December and then around New Years.

Also, keep in mind, these negotiations are not done for the guys with one or two years left on their deals or for grinders or cheapo players. They're done to protect the 15-20 top guys and the future 15-20 top guys. So one of them deciding afterwards "ya know what, screw everyone!" may not be taken so well by other players. I mean, I would guess the vote on this CBA will be 80/85 up to 15/20 down Just like last time. There's a reason for that.

As all of my post during the lockout will show I equally despise both the owners and players. I truly hate the business aspect of sports and how fvcked up the NHL is when it comes to getting a deal done. Gary Bettman makes Bud Selig look like a fantastic commissioner which is hard to do. I'm not saying Kovalchuk would be right or wrong if he attempted to stay in Russia. Just based off of everything that happened and the ridiculous money he can make there, I can get why he would try to stay. I'm not trying to come across like I'm defending him, I want him back to NJ immediately.

Also I know these negotiations aren't done for grinders. But I don't think it would be unfair to assume that they would feel disrespected by being locked out by Bettman.

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RIP Pat Burns -- RIP Alexander Vasyunov and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Winner of the 2008 Sergei Brylin Award for Most Underrated Poster
Co-Winner of the 2011 Scott Bertoli Award for Best Minor League Poster, Winner of the 2012 Scott Bertoli Award

As all of my post during the lockout will show I equally despise both the owners and players. I truly hate the business aspect of sports and how fvcked up the NHL is when it comes to getting a deal done. Gary Bettman makes Bud Selig look like a fantastic commissioner which is hard to do. I'm not saying Kovalchuk would be right or wrong if he attempted to stay in Russia. Just based off of everything that happened and the ridiculous money he can make there, I can get why he would try to stay. I'm not trying to come across like I'm defending him, I want him back to NJ immediately.

Also I know these negotiations aren't done for grinders. But I don't think it would be unfair to assume that they would feel disrespected by being locked out by Bettman.

Well, like I said, they should go back to their PA leadership and ask exactly why it was things happened the way they did. Could this have been solved in September? Probably not, but for it to drag on for that long, and then have everyone give in on everything over what, 48 hours? Then they throw their cards on the table and say "that's it, let's play hockey."

STUPID.

Players should be just as angry at their PA as they should be at the league. I went into this pro-owner and left it thinking "what the fvck just happened?" Always thought this could be a fairly painless negotiation. I was right. Just happened everyone maimed themselves before they came to that realization.

One Russian star player is not going to make a league re-think its labor policy. Especially when that player has been a pain in the ass for everyone involved, and played for a team that has been a pain in the ass for everyone involved. Maybe if he did end up leaving it would be a good cautionary tale to doing that kind of business. There's alot of contracts out there that can blow up in people's faces. Maybe you want to think twice about who you give them to.

Well, like I said, they should go back to their PA leadership and ask exactly why it was things happened the way they did. Could this have been solved in September? Probably not, but for it to drag on for that long, and then have everyone give in on everything over what, 48 hours? Then they throw their cards on the table and say "that's it, let's play hockey."

STUPID.

Players should be just as angry at their PA as they should be at the league. I went into this pro-owner and left it thinking "what the fvck just happened?" Always thought this could be a fairly painless negotiation. I was right. Just happened everyone maimed themselves before they came to that realization.

One Russian star player is not going to make a league re-think its labor policy. Especially when that player has been a pain in the ass for everyone involved, and played for a team that has been a pain in the ass for everyone involved. Maybe if he did end up leaving it would be a good cautionary tale to doing that kind of business. There's alot of contracts out there that can blow up in people's faces. Maybe you want to think twice about who you give them to.

Well I agree the way the whole thing played out was stupid. It was probably the dumbest work stoppage in NA pro sports history.

I'm not trying to debate any point about any star player making the league re-think any labor policy. That thought never even crossed my mind. I'm just saying the dude's human and maybe he got his feelings hurt and thinks maybe the grass is greener in the motherland (whether it is or not). I still think we'll see him no later than next Monday.

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RIP Pat Burns -- RIP Alexander Vasyunov and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Winner of the 2008 Sergei Brylin Award for Most Underrated Poster
Co-Winner of the 2011 Scott Bertoli Award for Best Minor League Poster, Winner of the 2012 Scott Bertoli Award

Well I agree the way the whole thing played out was stupid. It was probably the dumbest work stoppage in NA pro sports history.

I'm not trying to debate any point about any star player making the league re-think any labor policy. That thought never even crossed my mind. I'm just saying the dude's human and maybe he got his feelings hurt and thinks maybe the grass is greener in the motherland (whether it is or not). I still think we'll see him no later than next Monday.

Well, hypothetically, if he takes off, who exactly is he punishing? Daly and Bettman would probably laugh their asses off, maybe hold it to a light chuckle out of respect for Lou.

He's punishing the people that bent over backwards to give him that big pile of money... and had zero involvement in the lockout itself. He's punishing his teammates and he's punishing his team's fans. All so he can drown himself in Gazprom money. Sounds like a real dick. Hopefully he comes to his senses on that.